The ethics of intergenerational relationships

Bibliographic Data

ID23200748
AuthorsJanna Thompson (0000-0002-8174-249X, La Trobe University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume47
Issue2-3
Pages313-326
Publication date2017-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0045-5091 • E-ISSN: 1911-0820
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/00455091.2017.1280382
OpenAlexW2571726767
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited14

According to the relational approach we have obligations to members of future generations not because of their interests or properties but because, and only because, they are our descendants or successors. Common accounts of relational duties do not explain how we can have obligations to people who do not yet exist. In this defence of the relational approach I examine three sources of intergenerational obligations: the concern of parents for their children, including their future children; the desire of community members to pass on a heritage to their descendants; and the relationship of citizens in an intergenerational polity.

Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Polity · Sociology · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology